Soprano Sarah Shafer stars as the young Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden premiering March 1 through 10 at Cal Performances. Shafer made her professional debut last season as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival and at the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall. Amid a busy rehearsal schedule the rising star took some time out to answer to answer San Francisco Opera’s Five Questions.

Over the next few months, we'll be profiling each of our current Adler Fellows here at "Backstage at San Francisco Opera." If you have some questions you'd like to ask them, send us a message via email at socialmedia@sfopera.com or via Facebook or Twitter. Our first Adler Profile is mezzo-soprano Laura Krumm who you can catch this month starring in the world-premiere of Nolan Gasser's The Secret Garden as Martha Sowerby.

The excitement of creating a role in a world premiere production with San Francisco Opera is electrifying. For me it began the instant I got the invitation to join the cast (though I must admit it was also a little daunting). After all, how could I not think about the legacy of amazing works that were commissioned or premiered by SFO—Dead Man Walking, Doctor Atomic and so many others—and about filling the shoes of the distinguished performers who have sung and created roles here?

We're counting down the days until we open our world-premiere production of Nolan Gasser's The Secret Garden and rehearsals here at San Francisco Opera are about to head over the Bay Bridge to Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley. We're thrilled to be co-presenting this work with Cal Performances and we've lined up an exciting young cast who will be bringing this beloved childhood tale to life. Find out a little bit more about the Secret Garden cast in today's blog post.

Adapting Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved novel, The Secret Garden, as an opera, has been a joy, for two main reasons. One is the strength and beauty of the book, and the other has been the delight of working with a brilliant composer, Nolan Gasser, who has been as encouraging, flexible and astute a collaborator as any librettist could wish for.

Introduction

Backstage at San Francisco Opera is a fascinating, fast-moving, mysterious and sacred space for the Company’s singers, musicians, dancers, technicians and production crews. Musical and staging rehearsals are on-going, scenery is loaded in and taken out, lighting cues are set, costumes and wigs are moved around and everything is made ready to receive the audience. From the principal singers, chorus and orchestra musicians to the creative teams for each opera, in addition to the many talented folks who don’t take a bow on stage, this blog offers unique insight, both thought-provoking and light-hearted, into the life backstage at San Francisco Opera.